Heel and method of making the same



Patented Jan. 16, 1934 HEEL AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Lewis J. Bazzoni, Swampscott, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation,

Paterson,

N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application January 24, 1931. Serial No. 511,036

18 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in methods of making heels and to improvements in heels as articles of manufacture.

In making covered heels of the type having separate breast coverings it is the usual practice to cover rst the rear and sides of the heels with a cover which extends slightly forwardly of the breast edges of the heel and to turn these forward extensions of the side cover inwardly against the lateral margins of the breast face to be overlapped by a separate covering which is later applied to the breast of the heel. It is customary to buff or bevel the inturned side cover extensions to reduce the thickness of their edges and thus to prevent the formation of pronounced lines or ridges on the overlying margins of the breast ccvering. Even when thus beveled, however, the inturned side cover extensions necessarily project forwardly an amount corresponding to their thickness beyond the surface of the heel breast with the result that after the breast covering has been applied, the margins of the latter which overlap the beveled side cover extensions are offset forwardly from the curve or plane of the rest ofthe breast covering, a condition Which detracts from the stylish and artistic appearance of the heel.

Moreover, in beveling or bufiing the side cover margins it is difficult to reduce their edge thickness sufficiently without removing too much material, in fact, it often happens that the entire margins are buifed away, thus leaving no stock to hold the cover in place in the vicinity of the breast corners with the result that the side cover quickly peels away from the breast corners leaving them exposed and thus marring the appearance of the heel.

In view of the foregoing, one object of the present invention is to avoid the above-described undesirable conditions and to insure that the breast covering will lie smoothly upon the heel breast from one lateral breast edge to the other without any undesirable olfset or irregularity inthe transverse curve or contour of the outer surface of the breast covering.

With this object in view there has been provided an improved method of making heels in accordance With which the lateral margins of the breast of a heel are relieved so as only partially to allow for the thickness of covering material for the sides of the heel or, in other words, so that marginal portions of the side cover, When laid upon the relieved breast margins, will be intersected by the plane or curve of the heel breast. Thereaften. these marginal portions of the side cover are buifed or otherwise reduced to remove such of the material as projects forwardly beyond the plane or curve of the heel breast. Thus outer surfaces are formed on the sidecover margins which are flush With the uncovered portion of the heel breast surface and still a suflicient thickness of cover material is left upon the relieved breast margins to insure against peeling of the cover margins. In the illustrated exemplification of this aspect of the invention the 85 breast of the heel is first concaved or grooved by presenting it to the action of a rotating cutter. Thereafter the lateral margins of the grooved breast face are lrelieved or reduced by presenting them simultaneously to the periphery of a rotating abrading wheel the radius of which is substantially greater than the radius of curvature imparted to the heel breast by the cutter above referred to. Thus, While the relieved breast margins formed by the abrading wheel are actually curved transversely of the heel breast, their curvature is so slight that for practical purposes they may be regarded as beveled surfaces and for convenience they Will be so designated herein. It is to be understood, therefore, so that the expression beveled surfaces employed hereinafter is to be construed as including surfaces which are slightly curved or concaved as Well as plane surfaces. It will also be seen that, While the beveling operation may result in off- 35 setting the extreme edge portions of the heel breast to allow for the full thickness of the side cover, the amount of this offset or allowance progressively diminishes toward the inner edges of the beveled portions of the heel breast where the cover margins project an amount equal to their full thickness beyond the heel breast surface. Thus the beveled breast portions may be said to allow only partially for the thickness of the cover margins Which are to be laid thereon.

After the heel breast margins have been beveled, as above described, the heel is ready to receive the side cover which may be applied in the usual way, its lateral margins being turned in- Wardly over the breast corners of the heel and laid against the beveled margins of the breast face. Thereafter, as shown, the marginal portions of the side cover which overlie the beveled margins of the breast face of the heel are relieved or beveled by presenting them, either simultaneously or successively, to the periphery of a rotating bufiing wheel having a radius substantially equal to the radius of the abrading wheel employed for beveling the heel breast margins. As a result of this operation the outer surfaces of the inturned side cover margins are curved, widthwise of the heel breast, so as to be fiush with the curved portion of the heel breast surface between these margins. Thus, when the breast covering is applied to the heel there will be no offset or irregularity in the transverse curvature thereof where the breast covering overlaps the inturned margins of the side cover. Furthermore, the use of a buliing wheel of the radius specified eliminates all risk of removing too much stock from the inturned side cover margins and thus insures against peeling of the side cover.

It is to be recognized that invention resides also in the provision of a heel having its lateral breast margins beveled to offset its lateral breast edges rearwardly an amount substantially corresponding to the thickness of a covering to be applied to the sides of the heel. i

Considered in another aspect, invention is further to be recognized as residing in a covered heel comprising a heel body having its lateral breast margins beveled, and having a covering for the sides of the heel having marginal portions overlying the beveled margins of the heel breast and having outer relieved faces Which are flush with the por-tion of the heel breast surface between said cover margins.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a conventional view illustrating one method of grooving or concaving the breast of a heel;

Fig. 2 is a conventional view illustrating a preferred method of beveling the lateral margins of the heel breast;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a wooden Cuban heel as it appears after its breast has been grooved or concaved and its lateral breast margins have been beveled;

Fig. 4. is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of the portion of the heel shown in Fig. 3 as it appears after the side cover has been applied thereto;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of a heel illustrating one method of reducing or beveling the lateral margins of the side cover;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but illustrating an alternative method of reducing the lateral margins of the side cover;

Fig. '7 is a sectional view of the heel as it appears after the breast covering has been applied thereto; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the heel as it appears after the lateral margins of the side cover have been beveled or reduced but before the breast covering has been applied.

In carrying out the present method, as herein exemplified, the breast of a Cuban heel 10 is first grooved or concaved as indicated at 12 in Fig. 1 and thereafter the opposite lateral margins of the heel breast are relieved or beveled as indicated at 14 inFigs. 2 and 3. As shown, the rst operation of grooving the breast of the heel is effected by presenting the heel breast to a cutter 16 which is arranged to rotate about an axis 18 extending heightwise of the heel, the radius of the cutter (i. e., the distance between the axis 18 and the cutting edges of the blades 22) being the same as the radius of the transverse curvature Which is to be imparted to the heel breast. The second operation of relieving ,or beveling of the lateral breast margins of the heel 10 is effected, as shown in Fig. 2, by presenting the breast margins simultaneously to the periphery a of an abrading wheel 26 having a radius 23 substantially greater than the radius of the cutter 16 and of the concaved breast face 12. It will be seen, therefore, that the beveled breast margins 14 are actually slightly concaved about a common axis extending heightwise of the heel, the radius of curvature of these margins, however, being substantially greater than that of the portion of the breast face which is located between them. As a result of beveling the breast margins as just described, the lateral breast edges or corners of the heel are offset rearwardly from the curve of the breast face, the amount of stock actually removed from the heel being indicated by dotted lines at 30 in Fig. 2 and the amount of offset at the breast corners being made substantially equal to the thickness of the covering Which is to be applied to the rear and sides of the heel. The beveled breast margins 14 slope gradually from the offset breast corners to their points of intersection with the concave breast face 12.

After the lateral margins of the breast face have been thus relieved or beveled the heel appears as shown in Fig. 3 and is ready to receive a side covering, such as that indicated at 34 in Figs. 4 to 8. The covering 34 is made long enough to extend around the rear and sides of the heel and Vto project forwardly beyond the heel breast corners. After the covering 34 has been applied to the rear and side faces of the heel the forwardly projecting portions of the covering are turned inwar iy and laid against the beveled margins 14 of the heel breast as indicated at 36 in Fig. 4. suitable adhesive is employed as is customary to secure the covering 34 to the heel.

After having been laid against the beveled faces 14 of the heel breast the side cover margins 36 are so positioned as to be intersected by the curve of the heel breast, as indicated by the line x-x in Fig. 4, the margins 36 projecting forwardly a Substantial amount beyond that curve. In order to insure that the side cover margins will not produce an undesirable offset or irregularity in the curve of the breast covering which is later to be applied, the side cover margins are buifed or otherwise reduced to remove the projecting material and thus to leave their outer faces flush with the unbeveled surface of the heel breast and properly surfaced to facilitate the bending of the cover margins by adhesive to the separate covering Which is to be applied to the heel breast. The beveling of the side cover margins may be effected, as illustrated in Fig. 5, by presenting them simultaneously to the periphery of a bufling wheel, such as that indicated at 38, the wheel having a radius corresponding to the radius of transverse curvature of the heel breast face 12. This bufiing operation results in the removal of the material indicated by dotted lines at 44 in Fig. 5. At t e completion of this buffing operation both side cover margins 36 will have been beveled as shown in Fig. 7, thus providing outer faces 40 which are actually curved about an axis coincident with the axis of curvature of the breast face 12 and which therefore are flush with the face 12. In other words, the curved faces of the side cover margins constitute extensions of the curve of the breast face 12, there being not even the slightest interruption in that curve from one lateral breast edge of the heel to the other.

Assuming that the bufilng wheel 38 turns in the direction of the arrow 42 (Fig. 5), it will be clear that movement of the wheel will have no tendency to strip from the heel the inturned side cover margin at the right-hand side of the heel breast.

It is possible, however, that under certain conditions a buing wheel turning in the direction specified might have some tendency to strip from the heel breast the side cover margin at the opposite side of the heel. In orderto insure that there will be no tendency for either margin of the side cover to be stripped from the heel breast during the operation of relieving or beveling these margins, it may be found desirable to present the heel breast to the action of the buffing wheel, as illustrated in Fig. 6, via., the heel being slightly tilted so that the buifing Wheel, instead of operating simultaneously upon both side cover margins, will engage and operate upon only one of these margins at a time. As shown in Fig. 6, the side cover margin at the right-hand side only of the heel is being reduced by the buffing wheel. At the completion of that operation the heel may be turned 180 to present the opposite side cover margin to the action of the bufiing wheel in the same relation to the wheel as the first cover margin was presented.

A separate heel breast covering 46 (Fig. '7) may then be applied to the heel breast in the usual manner, the breast covering overlapping the side cover margins without, however, being defleoted or forwardly displaced in the slightest degree by the latter because of the fact that the side cover margins have been beveled or relieved as above described. Thus, not only will there be no welldefined lines or ridges in the breast covering 46 where the latter extend over the inner edges of the side cover margins but the transverse curve of the breast covering will be continuous and will have the same radius of curvature from one lateral extremity to the other, this being a condition which greatly improves the appearance of the heel.

Having described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. That improvement in methods of making covered heels which consists in relieving the lateral margins of the breast of a heel so as only partially to allow for the thickness of covering material for the sides of the heel, applying covering material to the sides of the heel and laying marginal portions of said material upon said relieved breast margins, and thereafter reducing said marginal portions of the side covering material to form thereon outer surfaces flush with the unrelieved surface of the heel breast.

2. That improvement in methods of making covered heels which consists in beveling the lateral margins of the breast of a heel, applying covering material to the sides of the heel, laying marginal portions of said covering material upon said beveled breast margins, and beveling the outer surfaces of said margins.

3. That improvement in methods of making covered heels having concaved breast faces which consists in concaving the lateral margins of the breast surface of a heel about a common axis extending heightwise of the heel, applying to the rear and sides of the heel a covering having marginal portions extending forwardly beyond the breast edges of the heel, laying said cover extensions against the concaved lateral margins of the heel breast, and subsequently concaving the outer surfaces of said cover extensions about the axis of curvature of the breast face of the heel.

4. That improvement in methods of making covered heels which consists in relieving the lateral margins of the breast of a heel to offset rearwardly the lateral edges of the heel breast, applying covering material to the sides of the heel and laying marginal portions of said material upon said relieved breast margins, thereafter reducing the edge thickness of said marginal portions of the covering material, and laying a breast covering upon the uncovered portion of the heel breast and upon said marginal portions of said covering material.

5. That improvement in, methods of making heels which comprises concaving the breast of a heel by presenting the heel to a rotary cutter having its axis extending heightwise of the heel and thereafter presenting both lateral margins of the heel breast simultaneously to a rotary cutter having a greater radius of curvature than that of the first cutter to reduce both breast margins to allow for the thickness of the portions of a heel covering to be applied thereto.

6. That improvement in methods of making heels Which comprises presenting the breast of a heel successively to two rotating reducing tools of different radii to form in the heel breast a transverse concavity having a radius of curvature corresponding to that of the tool having the shorter radius and to produce at the opposite lateral margins of the heel breast transversely concave surfaces each having a radius of curvature corresponding to that of the tool having the longer radius.

'7. That improvement in methods of making covered heels which comprises presenting a heel to a rotating cutter to impart to the heel breast a predeterrnined transverse concave contour and presenting the breast of the heel to a shaping wheel having a greater radius than that of said ccncave contour to reduce the opposite lateral margins of the heel breast.

8. That improvement in methods of making heels which comprises grooving the breast of a heel and thereafter presenting both lateral margins of the heel breast simultaneously to a rotary abrading tool having a radius of curvature greater than the radius of curvature of the groove in the heel breast.

9. That improvement in methods of making heels which comprises concaving the breast of a heel by presenting the heel to a rotary cutter having its axis extending heightwise of the heel and thereafter presenting both lateral margins of the heel breast simultaneously to a rotary outter having a greater radius of curvature than that of the first cutter to reduce both breast margins to allow for the thickness of the portions of a heel covering to be applied thereto.

10. A heel having the lateral margins of its breast face relieved to allow only partially for the thickness of covering material for the sides of the heel, and a covering having marginal portions of reduced thickness overlying the relieved margins of the breast face of the heel.

11. A heel having the lateral margins of its breast face beveled to offset its lateral breast edges rearwardly an amount substantially corresponding to the thickness of a covering to be applied to the sides of the heel.

12. A heel having the lateral margins of its breast face coneavely curved about a common axis extending heightwise of the heel to relieve the lateral breast edges of the heel an amount substantially equal to the thickness of a cover to be applied to the sides of the heel.

13. A heel having the lateral margins of its breast face concavely curved about a common axis extending heightwise of the heel to offset rearwardly the lateral breast edges of the heel and having a transversely concaved breast surface between said margins, the radius of curvature of said breast face being less than the radius of curvature of said lateral breast margins.

14. A heel having concave breast surfaces curved about axes extending heightwise of the heel and comprising lateral marginal surfaces having a greater radius of curvature than the portion of the heel breast between said marginal surfaces.

15. A heel having concave breast surfaces curved about axes extending heightvvise of the heel and comprising lateral marginal surfaces having a greater radius of curvature than the portion of the heel breast between said marginal surfaces, and a covering for the rear and sides of the heel having marginal portions overlying said lateral breast surfaces of the heel.

16. A heel having concave breast surfaces curved about axes extending heightwise of the lheel and oomprising lateral marginal surfaces having a greater radius of curvature than the portion of the heel breast between said marginal surfaces, and a covering for the rear and sides of the heel having marginal portions overlying said lateral breast surfaces of the heel, said marginal cover portions being reduced to provide concave outer surfaces curved to blend With the curvature of the breast surface of the heel.

17. A covered heel comprising a heel body having narrow beveled breast faces extending heightwise of the heel along the lateral margins of the heel breast, and a cover upon the sides of the heel having marginal portions overlying said beveled breast faces of the heel body,,said beveled breast faces relieving the lateral edges of the heel breast an amount substantially corresponding to the thickness of the side cover and the portions of the side cover Which overlie said beveled breast faces being also beveled to provide outer surfaces substantially flush With the portion of the heel breast between said beveled breast faces.

18. A covered heel comprising a heel body having beveled lateral breast margins, and a covering for the sides of the heel having marginal portions overlying said beveled margins of the heel breast, said marginal portions of the covering material having outer relieved faces flush With the portion of the heel breast surface between said cover margins.

LEWIS J. BAZZONI. 

